


nobody's ever really gone

by WelcomeToTheBadlands



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Character Death Fix, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, I'm still keeping Rey palpatine bc I think I can salvage that, In which we throw canon in the pit and forget about it, Rey & Rose Tico Are Best Friends, Rey Needs A Hug, Rose actually has a character, So I'm Completely rewriting the movie, So guys I'm saving Ben and killing off another character for stakes, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, Stormtrooper Rebellion, and no that character will not be finn so chill, im salty, smutty epilogue
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:27:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21872932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WelcomeToTheBadlands/pseuds/WelcomeToTheBadlands
Summary: In which the galaxy hears the voice of a being long thought dead. Ben goes searching for Palpatine, with the First Order more powerful than it ever was before. Leia trains Rey to the best of her ability and Poe doesn't trust Rey. Finn confesses to Rose about his guilt about never going back for his comrades in his company and convincing them to leave the First Order.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 36
Kudos: 104





	1. Prologue - Two Halves Separated

**Author's Note:**

> Listen. The only good thing about this movie was Ben Solo.

The year had passed by quicker than Kylo Ren thought it ever would. He pretended that he didn’t ask Rey for his hand, that their relationship had stayed the way it was when they had first fought on Star Killer base. There was a wound there, one that he didn’t want to prod at. Instead, he focused one fortifying the First Order, which he was good at.

He could tell that that annoyed General Hux to no end, seeing him succeed at making the First Order better. He had practically scoffed when he had suggested jetpacks for the storm troopers and improving their helmets to make sure that they could aim better.

Something told Kylo that that would come into use soon enough though, so he had insisted and he had gotten his way after a little bit of persuasion using the Force. After that, everything went swimmingly. Until the day that Snoke was proven a liar.

Ben was in his room again when he saw her next, but this time he was lucky enough to not be shirtless. Instead in a moment of vulnerability, where he couldn’t sleep. Rey turned and when she saw him, she started to cry. It wasn’t this big thing and she didn’t start sobbing, but he could see the tears coming out of her eyes and for some reason he felt remorse for crimes he didn’t commit.

She was the one that didn’t take his hand. She was the one who left him. Still, he felt like he needed to talk to her. “Rey, I—”

“Don’t you dare,” That was the end of their whole conversation. The connection lasted much longer than that, though. This hatred rippled through the bond in the way that Ben had never seen before. _‘No, not hatred. Disappointment.’_ Something in his head said. It was a voice that he hadn’t heard before.

But one that felt familiar all the same. A woman was talking to him, not Rey, not Leia, but someone else. And it was only for a slight second.

And he was left with the anger that he had before the connection even began.

It happened again, two more times during the year. Each time she tells him not to talk. Each time he can see a pain at her eyes that pisses him off so much. He wants to talk about it, but she won’t let him. How are they supposed to go about this? Never seeing each other and always going in circles.

This must be giving her conflict too.

After the last time that he sees her, he tries to busy himself with making sure that the First Order had enough resources and slightly steering them off the course of the Resistance but not quite. There was nothing to do though, really. There was just this stewing that was going on. He considered bringing the Knights of Ren back but he really didn’t want to see them right now either.

Didn’t want to bring back memories of what happened after the Academy. _Let the past die, kill it if you have to._ It was funny how he couldn’t even follow his own advice. Infuriating even. He hated this.

__

Rey didn’t give up on Ben Solo, but she couldn’t talk to him while he was like this. This wasn’t Ben Solo—this wasn’t the person that she had seen in that hut on Ach-To. This was Kylo Ren. This was the man that wasn’t apologetic for his actions. There was no growth there, and where there was no growth, there was no way that she could be with him.

There was no way that you just rewarded something like that. Still, it pained her to see him. To open that wound. “Is there something troubling you?” Leia had asked her one day. They had just started training. Leia still having remnants of the fighting that Luke had taught her put to memory and them both being fast learners from the scripts.

For a second, Rey considered not talking to her about her son. Was it cruel to give her hope when there might not be any? But the better part of her started to talk. “I didn’t tell you about everything that happened before Crait. About—” She bit her lip.

“Ben?”

“Yes, I went to see him.” Leia went still.

“And he killed Snoke,”

“Oh?”

“Yes. He killed Snoke because he hurt me and I just—there was so much light in him in those moments and then something happened. Like he went back into his shell or something. He asked me to take his hand and rule with him and I said no.” She wanted to take Ben’s hand. Not Kylo’s. “He feels like I’ve abandoned him.”

“And do you?” Leia put her hand over Rey’s, stroking it softly.

“Sometimes,”

“Well let me tell you, Rey. I think that that just shows a lot about you. About how forgiving you can be, but my son made his choice, unfortunately. He can still come back from that. You gave him the tools to. You gave him hope. You didn’t abandon him, and the fact that you still care about him even though he’s been like this means a lot to me as his mother.” Rey was silent, biting back tears. She guessed what Leia was saying was right. He had the tools now. He had to come back on his own. She would just help a little.

“Now,” Leia said, “we should continue your training.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The year had progressed as well as it could. They won some. They lost some. Not many people died. The whole time Rey trained, knowing that she would need to do something big if this war was going to end.


	2. 1 - Call Forth the Chosen One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I put in scenes I thought were necessary, and cut out scenes I thought were unnecessary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so when i spite write i write really fast so here you go you got your update sooner than expected, im trying to keep all the chapters around 2-5k length because I don't like chapters being any longer than that, so if you're like "where's rose" for example, she's going to be in the next chapter so I can have more time devoted to fixing her not having a character

When Kylo Ren had first heard Palpatine’s voice, he wasn’t sure what to feel other than nauseous. He’d felt bile rising up in his throat. It was something that left him shaking and cold. Kylo had resigned himself to knowing that he wasn’t going to sleep that night. He had heard it before anyone else. His voice. He had only heard that voice in nightmares, heard his mother talk about it when she was talking with Luke about her own dreams, when she thought that he couldn’t hear. And it chilled him to the bone. Hadn’t he died?

_‘What was it with annoying old men not dying?’_ He would think to himself on his better days. It didn’t take long for him to start panicking though. He needed to find him. Find Palpatine and wipe him off the face of this galaxy. He justified it as searching for power, needing to eradicate the old man to keep it, but there were so many reasons that he was doing what he was doing.

So many reasons.

He wished that he could explain all of them, even to himself. He couldn’t really. He had remembered most of the Jedi texts, it had been his job to inscribe them after all. He had copies of some of the things that Luke hadn’t even bothered to read. He knew what he was looking for. A Sith Wayfinder. That would find Palpatine.

Then he could end this.

That rabbit hole of research took him to Mx with enough stormtroopers to wipe out any small militia on the planet. When he was done, he was the only one left. He had the Wayfinder in his hands, and for a second he stood, looking at the wreckage. The crimson red planet was certainly a place where one would expect something like this to be, grossly on the nose and ominous.

This is why the Sith needed to die. If Ben was being honest, he was just annoyed with the fact that they hadn’t been stopped earlier because all of their hiding spots for important things would be in places you would expect evil artifacts to be.

The dead bodies that he was partially responsible for didn’t help the appearance. Kylo huffed a little, allowing himself to catch his breath before closing his eyes. The thing in his hand felt so wrong. He started towards the ship, glad to hook it up and get out of his hands immediately. It didn’t take long to find Palpatine after that.

Exegol’s atmospheric readings were a mess, and any normal pilot would have trouble getting there. That was the one thing he really had to credit Han for, though. He taught him well. He landed on that blue-black planet. Still feeling wrong. He felt like he shouldn’t be here, but he knew where he needed to go, knew what he needed to do.

He walked to a platform that was meant to carry him down to wherever he was meant to go. When it started to descend, he held his breath. Again, not sure what to expect. _Finally._ Lightning flickered, casting an ominous look on the statues surrounding him. All the former Sith. Darth Nihilus, Darth Bane, Darth Plageuis… they were all there. _Long have I waited…_ Kylo gripped his lightsaber in anticipation, walking past people he could only assume were followers of Palpatine. It was pretty clear that Palpatine had picked the most ominous place possible to be. Kylo would have to keep himself from asking him how he was still alive. Although refraining from showing his annoyance was going to be hard.

Then Palpatine started his intimidation. _I have been every voice inside of your head._ Snoke. Vader. Palpatine. He stopped walking for a minute, closing his eyes. ‘ _He’s lying. Grandfather talked to you.’_ He told himself. But part of him knew that that wasn’t true.

All of this had been a game to him, and Kylo had fallen for it. He had fallen for it hard. He felt so stupid. That didn’t matter now, he had to keep going. Pretend like he wasn’t intimidated by what he saw. Of course, the first thing he saw was some sort of cloning chamber or preservation tank with Snoke’s body in it.

That only confirmed what Palpatine had just said a minute ago. He had to remind himself to keep going. More of Palpatine’s followers past by, doing something, although Kylo wasn’t sure what. He could see a contraption holding someone up. Felt darkness rolling off of it. That was where he was. He could feel it.

He stepped forward, cautiously. His lightsaber at the ready, ready to kill him if he needed. He was weak. It wouldn’t be that hard, would it? “My boy, this has been a long time coming.” Kylo really didn’t want to do this. He was standing before a man that looked more like a corpse that had been left in water too long.

Palpatine was held on to this metal contraption. Kylo’s lightsaber was inches away from his face. If he really wanted to, he could end him right here. But would he be able to get out of here alive, when he didn’t have any help. “How are you still alive?”

“There are many powers that come from the dark side that some may consider unnatural,” the old Sith said. That didn’t answer Kylo’s question, but he knew better than to talk back. “You want to kill me.”

Okay, maybe he didn’t know better than to talk back. “Is it that obvious? I wonder what gave it away,” The old man was rotting. He could tear through him like he was just a rotting fruit and nothing else. “Give me a reason why I shouldn’t.”

“If you put that away, I can give you the reason.” Against his better judgement, he lowered his lightsaber. But his grip was still tight on it.

“What could you possibly give me?” The answer was going to be something related to power, wasn’t it? But was that what Ben really wanted?

“Everything you could ever want,” . A sickening grin formed on Palpatine’s face, one that reminded Ben of Snoke. “An empire. Power. Safety. And—” He trailed off as Kylo heard the sound of a lightsaber engaging. He turned around, his saber now red again. In the glow he saw her, sallow cheeked and dressed in black like him. Now with a dual saber with unstable red beams.

_‘You were right, Ben. In the end, the dark side was the right choice. I will be by your side.’_ This was what he had imagined right? What he had wanted in the throne room? Except Rey looked like she hadn’t slept in a why and like she hadn’t been eating and she didn’t look happy. When he saw her, all the sudden he felt like he was back there, and he wanted to go with Rey this time. But he couldn’t. He took in a shaky breath. He had to pretend that’s what he wanted. He had to clear his mind and turn back towards Palpatine.

“What do you need from me?”

“I need you to bring her to me, in return I will give you a fleet. More troops. The First Order will become more powerful than it has ever been before. Just follow my instructions.”

“The scavenger is strong with the light, are you sure that is a good idea?”

“She is not who you think she is, Kylo Ren.”

“Who is she?”

__

Rey didn’t know what was wrong with her. She was struggling with connecting for the Force, that was for sure. For all she knew, and all she read, she struggled to actually feel the connection that she once felt. The old voices that would guide her and help her were no longer there to light up the way and that worried her. She could tell that it worried Leia too, although the General tried hard not to show it Rey. “I can’t do it, it’s no use.” Leia cocked her head to the side and gave Rey a sad smile.

“You can,” She said, “but there’s something troubling you. Something closing you off from the force.” She was right about that for sure. Ever since the last time that Rey and Kylo Ren had connected through the Force, Rey had tried her best to block him out. She didn’t need anyone catching him in the act of speaking to her. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

“Right,” Rey said, she tried to give her a convincing smile. She couldn’t. “I’m going to go run the training course.” Leia nodded and let Rey start. The training course was big, thanks to the concealment of the jungle, and probably one of the only things that Rey enjoyed about her training. It was hard and rigorous but almost fun, in a way. At least it was fun for her on her good days. Today was different. She got through the first part fine, even the part with the visor blocking her vision.

But something made her pause.

She could feel it again.

That pulsing wound that leaked darkness. In it, she could see him, she could see glimpses of the past. Screams. Guilt. Han’s death, and in it something else. People she had not seen before. Once the vision stopped, she was left there sweating, confused and disoriented. BB-8 whirred next to her in confusion and concern, and just as Rey was about to try and reassure the droid that she was in fact, fine, a training droid knocked nearly knocked her right off her feet.

“Fu—Kriff.” She turned, swiping at the droid with Luke’s lightsaber. The droid seemed to move with a mind of it’s own, though. Dodging each move like an actual person was controlling it. Rey swiped at it a few more times, seething, before she was forced to change her strategy. With one throw, she spent her lightsaber spiraling away and picked up a particularly sharp fallen branch that she spotted on the ground, pinning the droid effectively to a tree before grabbing her lightsaber with the other hand.

She stopped to catch her breath when she heard distressed beeping, seeing BB under a tree that had been cut down because of her move. “Oh! Sorry!” She turned her lightsaber off and clipped it to her side before running over to free the droid. “I am so sorry, I didn’t see you there.” It said something telling her that it was okay and Rey nodded, sitting back for a moment, still trying to catch her breath and process what had just happened.

What the bond had just shown her. BB-8 brought her attention back to the real world. Saying something about the Millennium Falcon coming back.

__

Poe Dameron had to admit that they were lucky to get out of dodge alive. Chewie was still complaining about lightspeed skipping and the fact that the _Falcon was on fire_ and he really didn’t want to hear it, because at least they were alive. Right? He got them out of there alive.

That was the most important part. “Rey would have done a better job,” Chewie had said.

“Well Rey wasn’t there, was she?” Speaking of Rey.

“What happened to the Falcon?”

“Hello, Rey. Nice to see you too.”

“What happened?” Finn was already getting away from this conversation, wanting to avoid the conflict that was happening between the two of them. Chewie answered her, telling her about them light speed skipping to get away from the First Order. That was just great. “Poe!”

“What?”

“You lightspeed skipped? You can’t do that, you know the compressor’s been down.”

“Well, apparently I can! And I did.”

“And look at the state of the ship! It’s on fire!”

“Well, I’m sorry but I did the best I could. And you weren’t out there, were you? No, you were here. Training for what—”

“You know what you are,” Rey’s voice was cold but the smile on her face was definitely one that made Poe feel uncomfortable about, “you’re a difficult man. That’s what you are.”

“Whatever,” He turned to pay attention to BB-8.

“What happened to my droid?”

“That was an acc—” BB-8 whirred and while Rey loved the little droid, she couldn’t believe he was selling her out like that.

“You dropped a tree on him?”

“Like I said that was an accident—”

“So was the Falcon,”

“The Falcon is in worse shape than your droid, Poe.”

“Hey, guys. Maybe we can bicker later.” Finn said. Rey was grateful for the intervention.

“You’re right.” Poe said. “You’re right.” He turned to Rey. “Sorry, I can be difficult. But my point stands, you should be out there with us. You’re the best fighter we have. We could use you.” With that he left, and Rey was left open mouthed.

__

“Oh, can you believe—”

“He’s right,” Finn said. “We could use you out there.”

“I’m trying my best, I—”

“I didn’t say you were,” Finn told her. “I just miss going on missions with you, you know? You haven’t seemed like yourself lately.” Rey bit her tongue after that. “Are you okay? What happened when you went to see Luke?”

“Let’s just say he’s not who we thought he was,” She said bitterly. “I need to go clear my head.” She left before he could say anything else.


	3. 2 - If The Darkness Returns Then My Brothers Will Die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose tries to comfort Rey about what she's doing in the Resistance, and the Resistance gets a message from the long thought dead Emperor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to listen to my fix it fic playlist, you can find it here: 
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/34wQWJTK6I23h8lo3egSOI?si=t_xywWA4S3O58qVrD63xFQ

Rose was lucky to be alive. She really thought that she was going to die after she and Finn had shared that kiss, but she didn’t. And for that, she was grateful. She was even more grateful for meeting Rey after everything had died down and she was healed up enough to walk around. The girl was a little bit odd, obviously not used to socializing but that was okay. Rose hadn’t been really good at talking either. She remembered the day they first met, she’d been scared after she saw the way that she had looked at Finn and her. Now they were almost friends. Rose watched Rey walk away from Finn and the others in exasperation and come towards her.

The Jedi huffed before sitting down on the first available crate next to her. “You okay?” Rose asked. Rey jumped, like she hadn’t noticed that Rose was right next to her. She bit the inside of her cheek and didn’t answer. “You know you can tell me anything. I’m not Finn or Poe, so I won’t be offended.”

“I’m just tired,” Rey said, “there are so many things that people want me to do and I just—am not enough for all of this.”

“You’re doing all you can,”

“That’s the problem, I just don’t think that I’m doing enough and I don’t know how to fix that.” Rose stopped looking at the data pad that she was looking at and put it down, taking in Rey’s face more for the first time. She wished that she was better at this. Better at giving people hope and making them feel better, but she was afraid that she might make it worse.

“I’m sorry,” She said, “I wish I could tell you how to make this all better. That it will be fine, but something tells me that won’t be of much use to you, will it?” Rey shook her head, pursing her lips together and Rose laughed half-heartedly.

“All I can tell you is that I think that you’re doing enough. Before I saw you on board, I thought that we didn’t have much of a change. No matter how optimistic that I tried to be. But Rey, just think about it. I know we don’t know much about each other but you came from a desolate planet where barely nothing lived, you survived Star Killer, you survived Snoke, and you saved our lives. I believe in you and so many others do. Whatever happens, just know that you’re doing enough.” She didn’t want it to seem like she was depending on Rey to win the entire war. Rey tried her best to smile, but Rose could tell that something hurt inside her, and she didn’t know if she could make it better or not.

“You know you’re a great friend,” Rey said softly, “Finn’s lucky to have you.”

“He’s lucky to have you too,” Rose said.

“That’s not what I meant,” Rey looked down at her shoes, “what you guys have is—I wish I could have that with someone.”

“Well you certainly can,”

“I almost did.”

“What happened?”

“A lot of stuff,” Rey said. She looked past Rose, like she was seeing something in the distance. Before Rose got a chance to ask her what was going on, she opened her mouth and spoke again, “Sorry. I have to go study. Thank you for letting me talk.”

Rose watched her go, wishing that she could be of more help to her. She didn’t have too much time to overthink that interaction or wonder if she should have said anything else before she felt Finn’s hand on her back. “Hey,”

“Hey.” He bent down to plant a kiss on her forehead.

“How are you doing?”

“Good.” She said, looking back at her data pad. “Was just checking up on supplies. Making sure that we have enough fuel.”

“Oh, okay. Cool.”

“How are you doing?”

“I’m…doing.” He said. Rose put down her data pad again. It was like everyone was having an emotional crisis around here nowadays.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I was just thinking about something. Something I wished that I had done sooner, but it’s probably too late.”

“What is it?” Finn looked behind him for a second and then back to Rose. “It’s hard to explain. I’ll tell you later. Okay? They finally got the Falcon to stop being on fire so I’m going to go work on that.”

“Okay,” Rose said. “You know that you can talk to me about whatever, right?”

“Right,” Finn said, “and I will. I just have to find the words.”

__

The Force connected again when Rey was trying to study the Jedi texts, and she pretended to ignore it. Kylo turned around. He now had his mask on. “Have you heard the broadcast yet?”

“What broadcast?” He was silent for a moment, probably wondering if he should tell her or he should be cryptic. He decided to be cryptic. “You’ll hear it soon enough.”

“Why do you have your mask back on?”

“I don’t see how that concerns you,”

“You look better with it off,” She said bluntly, looking back at the book that she had been studying in the first place. “Is there anything else that you want to be cryptic about? Or are you done?” He looked like he was going to say something else. Leia interrupted them.

“Rey, I think you need to come over here.” She stopped for a second, and if Rey hadn’t know better, she would’ve thought that woman had sensed that her son was in the same room as the both of them. She could see Kylo tense as Leia said, “Remember what we talked about.” Before she left.

“I guess you better see what that was.”

“Don’t you have an army to lead?” The Force disconnected them after that. Rey was left feeling cold without him again. Alone. Like he told her that she wasn’t.

She hated that feeling.

Hated the feeling of being hostile towards him. It was awful. She tried to shake away the feeling as she met Leia and some other Resistance members that were crowded around a comm, listening to its transmission. Was that what Kylo had been talking about? The transmission had been filled with static and white noise, but as Rose messed with it, it got clearer and clearer. It became most clear in the middle of the transmission. “Long have I waited, for this day.” A deep and old voice said. Rey felt something in her stomach turned as she listened. “The day where my reign will continue,” Rey glanced over to see Leia, now sitting down.

“Is that the Emperor?” An older Resistance member asked. The General nodded, looking like she was going to throw up.

“I thought the Emperor was dead?” Poe seemed confused. Rey was confused too.

“Shut up!” Rose hissed.

The Resistance quieted down again for the most part so they could hear the next part of the transmission. “The First Order is more powerful than ever under the reign of Vader’s heir, and with help from the remnants of the Last Empire, will become the New Empire and they will begin to execute the last of my orders. Three attacks on major systems will commence within the next ninety-six hours. Signaling the last of the Resistance,” Murmuring started again. Hushed whispers made Rey feel uneasy. She was already figuring out how she could get off the base and find Palpatine. Rose once again, told everyone to shut up because there was more.

“Do we really need to listen to what that shriveled prune is saying?” Finn asked.

Rey was going to agree with that before the transmission cut her off, “However, as generous as I am feeling I will give the Resistance one chance to save their lives.” Why did Rey feel like she was about to throw up? “I will spare your lives if you surrender _my granddaughter.”_ The transmission ended and everyone went silent.

“Palpatine has a granddaughter?” Finn laughed. 

“Yeah, who would get with Palpatine in the first place?” Rose laughed uneasily. “Who would be Palpatine’s granddaughter anyway?”

“I mean, it’s pretty clear.” Poe said. “Who’s the only Force user here who isn’t a Skywalker?” That’s when Rey felt eyes on her.

“No, it’s not me.”

“Who else would it be?”

“That’s ridiculous,” General Leia intervened. “She’s not a Palpatine.”

“Do you know that for sure, General?” When Leia didn’t say anything Rey felt like she wanted to cry.

“My parents were no one,” She said, “they threw me away for drinking money.” She moved past Leia when the older woman tried to keep her at bay. “Don’t you think if I was Palpatine’s granddaughter I would be on the dark side?” Once she was closer to Poe, he seemed to back down.

“Come on,” Finn said, “we all know that Rey’s never done anything to hurt any of us. She’s obviously not a Palpatine.”

“Yeah.” Rose said. “Besides, I trust her.”

“Right, maybe your right. Sorry, Rey.” She could tell that he wasn’t.

“Right.” She took in a sharp breath and turned away. She needed to formulate a plan, pretend that that interaction hadn’t just happened. She remembered seeing something in the Jedi texts that might help her locate Palpatine. “I need to clear my head.”

“Rey—”

“With all due respect, General, I would like to be alone for a little.” She heard hushed whispers turn into malicious assumptions behind her. She already started walking away. BB-8 whirring behind her, apologizing on her owner’s behalf for how stupid Poe Dameron was being.

“Right, of course.”

__

When Leia approached Rey again, it was with caution. She had felt how scared the girl felt when people started to eye her with suspicion. The tremor in the Force when the words, ‘Palpatine’s granddaughter’ were uttered. She had tried to cast doubt on what Palpatine had said through transmission, but she wasn’t stupid. People would believe awful things when they were in times of doubt. The conflict in her for one second had grown strong enough to make Leia worry about her, but not enough for her to think that this girl would be a danger to them like Poe Dameron had thought.

“General,” She saw the smile on Rey’s face and knew that she was putting on a brave front for her. “I think that I found something that may help us locate Palpatine,”

“Oh?”

“Yes,” She opened the book and flipped around to show her a picture of a pyramid-esque looking thing. “It’s called a Wayfinder, and there’s only two of them. It’s pretty obvious who has one of them, but there has to be another out there. The texts have some ideas about where they had been. One was on a war-torn planet called Mx and the other was on a desert planet. Although, I’m not sure which and that can be any.” For a second, Rey looked distant, before she came back to and said. “Actually, I think that I do.”

“Are you okay?”

“What?”

“After that transmission, are you okay?” Rey’s smile faltered for a minute.

“Yes, General. I’m fine.”

“I know that Poe can be a jerk, and I just want to make sure that you’re—”

“Really, I’m fine. And yes, he can be a jerk but—”

“General, I swear that I’m okay but I need to go to Paasana and find this Wayfinder to get to Palpatine.”

“Paasana? You just told me that you didn’t know where you’re going. How did you find out the location so quickly?”

“Just a feeling. The Force.”

“Rey, that’s not how the Force works.”

“Does it really matter how I got the location? I’m going.”

“I’m not sure that I can let you go, Rey. You’re the best fighter we have and if something happens, especially if my son decides to—”

“Your son wouldn’t hurt me.”

“—Kidnap you again, the Resistance would be in dire straits. And I think you know that. Yes, I know that my son wouldn’t hurt you but we both know he’s not above abducting you again.”

“I’m sorry, General.” Rey said. “I’m going even if I don’t have your blessing.” Leia nodded, watching as Rey picked up Luke’s lightsaber and put it in her pack. Before she could get any further, the General decided that there was one thing that she had to tell her.

“I had a lightsaber,” She told her. Rey turned around.

“What?”

“Yes, I had a lightsaber. It’s on the Falcon. Luke crafted it wanting to teach me the craft, but at the beginning of my training, I decided that the Jedi way wasn’t for me. I was better with politics and I quit, taking the Lightsaber with me and Han. I had him lock it away, for Ben one day.” Rey nodded.

“I’ll find it and—if he chooses to accept it.”

“Right.”

“Right.”

__

Rose watched Finn start packing alongside Poe. “Where are you guys going?”

“I think Rey’s about to do something that she shouldn’t do alone so we’re going.” Rose turned to Poe.

“And why are you going?”

“To make sure that Finn doesn’t die.” Rose rolled her eyes.

“I’ll come too—”

“No we need you here,” Finn said, “to make sure that everything’s in order.”

“And why isn’t Poe staying? Rey hates him.”

“She doesn’t hate me, we just—”

“You’re so mean to her.” Rose said.

“Rose,” Finn told her, “just let this one go. I’ll see you later okay. Everything will be fine.” This was one of the things that had been making Rey mad for the past few months. Finn seemed to be getting more and more distant and while it seemed like he had _some_ feelings for her, he gravitated more to Poe than he did her. She wished that he would just come out and tell her that he had feelings for him.

“Fine.” Rose said. “Don’t be an idiot.”

Finn smiled half-heartedly, “That’s going to be hard, you’re like eighty percent of my impulse control.” She laughed a little and turned back to her datapad.

“Don’t die,”

__

Rey was getting the Falcon ready to leave. Hoping that she wouldn’t draw any attention to herself as she made her way up the ramp. “Hey, Rey. Wait up!” _Great._ She really didn’t need Finn to come with her. Or anyone else. They could all get hurt. She knew for a fact that Kylo wouldn’t hurt her, but she wasn’t sure about anyone else that tagged along with her.

“Finn?” Chewie and Poe were with him too, as well as C3-P0 and and R2D2. Why was Poe here? “What are you doing?”

“We’re going with you,”

“Finn, it’s too dangerous.” Rey said. “I should go alone. And thank you all for offering to come with me but I really think that I’ll be fine by myself.” She really didn’t want to have to deal with Poe for all of this trip, but that was the curse of being best friends with Finn. She had to deal with the one person that she didn’t get along with, and it was clear through her bond that Kylo didn’t like him either, further fueling Rey’s annoyance.

“Don’t be silly,” Finn said, “if it’s dangerous then we should come with you. We’re friends. We protect each other.” Chewbacca roared something in agreement with Finn, and Poe muttered a weak agreement as well. Rey forced a smile.

“Alright then, I guess that we’re all going to go together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just remember that Palpatine is a manipulative liar and I'm actually going to try and make him a good villain in this fic.


End file.
